News
August 13, 2014
A year of tributes and recording sessions...
The follow up to Our Hero Pleads His Flimsy Case is nearing completion, and over the next few weeks we'll be recording what will likely be the final four songs: Solitude and Privacy, The Front of Your Head, Desert Island Movies and Umbrellas Out. And yet more tunes are up on Soundcloud.
We played a Kinks tribute show back in December, alongside the RAF Mod Band, The Honus Huffhines, Dennis Mitchell of The Quags, and of course Kinked. And in June we teamed up with members of The Honus Huffhines and Magnetic Health Factory for a set at the Nuggets tribute show. Plus at various times, we've played sets alongside Giant Bug Village, Stan McMahon, Vega By Midnite and The Quags.
Additionally, there is a Met Farms interview up at Pop Geek Heaven. There was another one up at Warped magazine, but it would appear that the url is now a porn site. It's a funny world.
Oh, and check out the review of Our Hero Pleads His Flimsy Case at Powerpopaholic.com.
_______________________________________
SEPTEMBER 2, 2013
Better late than never -- the recording for our new album has finally begun. We've recorded four new tracks (Nothing No More with You, Close as Houses, The Cheltenham Aunts and Feel Like an Authority) and started work on a fifth (Durban Lake). You can check out our progress at SoundCloud, where we'll posting some early mixes as we finish them.
We've spent the summer playing shows around Portland, including another Fivepack showcase, last month's International Pop Overthrow festival and its corollary International Pop Hangover (with excellent fellow IPO bands Wild Bells and The Zags).
And thanks to our 350 fans on Jango Radio!
_______________________________________
FEBRUARY 4, 2013
Metropolitan Farms will be heading into the studio once more! We're set to cut two tracks at the end of the month -- details to follow...
And on February 16th, we'll be playing with our Fivepack compatriots at The Firkin.
In recent months, we've played with the likes of Sam Wegman and the Upper Lower Class, Ramune Rocket 3, Roving Eyes, The Jim Jams, The Cool Whips, and The Fallmen. Never a dull moment around here, it would seem.
_______________________________________
JULY 9, 2012
Metropolitan Farms has had a breezy spring, sharing the stage with the likes of The Contestants, Buzzy, Wolfman Fairies, and Kinks tribute band extraordinaire The Carnabetian Army. And back in February, Our Hero Pleads His Flimsy Case was named as one of Dagger Zine’s top ten CDs of the month.
This summer, we’ll be stepping out a bit too, including a set at the International Pop Overthrow festival in August. Here’s our schedule as it currently stands:
July 12th: Mill Ends (with Magnetic Health Factory and Sugar Tits)
July 21st: Private show (with The Contestants)
August 16th: The International Pop Overthrow festival
September 28th: Trillium Cafe (Hood River)
_______________________________________
MARCH 19, 2012
It’s been a busy winter for Metropolitan Farms, since the release of Our Hero Pleads His Flimsy Case. We’ve been playing live with the likes of Queued Up, Ross and the Hellpets, The Weak Knees, and Kinks tribute outfit The Carnabetian Army. And director Josh Vasquez has been shooting a video for Stars All Fall, coming soon to an internet near you.
Stars All Fall has been getting some airplay on Radio Reddit, and on DJ Noah Fence’s It’s a Nice World to Visit program on the Portland Radio Authority. Tear Me Apart has also been featured on It’s a Nice World to Visit.
Look for us at the Tonic Lounge on Saturday March 24 with The Contestants and Buzzy, and again at the Tonic on April 21 with The Carnabetian Army.
__________________________________________
DECEMBER 29, 2011
The CD Release Party was a great success! Magnetic Health Factory and The Swindon Lot also agreed to donate their shares of the bar take to Kiva, to provide microloans for entrepeneurs in developing countries. Between the three bands, $180 was raised for an outright donation.
Thanks to Eric from Magnetic Health Factory, Andy from The Swindon Lot, and everyone else who made such a great night possible.
___________________________________________
from the press release:
METROPOLITAN FARMS UNVEILS LONG-AWAITED FULL-LENGTH, SCHEDULES DEC. 3 SHOW
"Our Hero Pleads His Flimsy Case" is third release from Braxeling Records
Portland, OR -- Portland band Metropolitan Farms will feature music from its debut CD "Our Hero Pleads His Flimsy Case" at a Dec 3 World Famous Kenton Club show.
Metropolitan Farms, which is planning national distribution of the 15-song recording, will play with Magnetic Health Factory and the Swindon Lot. DJ Noah Fence will spin vinyl garage and pop favorites.
"Our Hero..." teems with upbeat British Invasion- and American New Wave-fueled catchiness. The opener "Stars All Fall" evokes mid- to later-period Guided By Voices (songwriter Josh Mayer plays regularly with Portland-based GBV cover band Giant Bug Village) while the breezy "I Could Be Anything" and "If You're Asking" could have been written during the cheery early-60s post-skiffle era. When Mayer's baritone guitar teams with ace rhythm section Joe Kobjerowski (drums) and L.W. McGrath (bass and harmony vocals), it results in a swing-pop hybrid that links whatever spectrum might link the Zombies
and Randy Newman (for proof, check out the irresistible "Throwing Quarters at the Rummy.")
The band is highly recommended for fans of GBV, the Kinks, Olivia Tremor Control and The Smithereens.
Alex Dickey recorded the project at Fitzcarraldo, and it was mixed by Sean Flora, who's worked with such bands as the Shins and The Jicks.
"Our Hero..." is Mayer's second released LP. He and Dickey released "Elephant," under the name Metropolitan, in 1999. Kobjerowski also plays drums in the Honus Huffhines while McGrath, the long-time bassist for Sauvie Island Moon Rocket Factory, also plays drums with Hawthorne.
Magnetic Health Factory is making its full-band performance debut after leader Eric O'Connor released the full-length Western Medicine in 2009. The band features O'Connor (Mr. Howl, the Honus Huffhines) and Dave Sullivan (Trout Mystery, the Lodge Club).
The Swindon Lot is a side project of the Honus Huffhines' songwriter Andy Giegerich.
For more information, visit
www.metfarms.com or email metropolitanfarms@yahoo.com.
What: Metropolitan Farms, Magnetic Health Factory, the Swindon Lot, DJ Noah Fence
Where: World Famous Kenton Club, 2025 N. Kilpatrick St.
When: Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011 at 9 p.m
